Today is Mother’s Day when one-fifth of all floral purchases are made for holidays. In a day where over-programmed kids and hectic family schedules dominate, mothers are incredibly powerful not in the weightlifting sense of that word, but in the areas of trust, encouragement, hope, and courage. You are incredibly powerful in the life of your husband. You are an amazing influence in the lives of your children, adult, or still at home. In fact, I would go so far as to say that for the average man, no one’s opinion of him matters as much as his wife’s.
Mothers, I have one point this morning – in hopeless times God works in surprising ways.
Today’s Story
The book of 1 Samuel and 2 Samuel primarily tells the story of three men: Samuel, Saul, the first king of Israel, and David, the second and great king of Israel. You should read it as a continuation of the dark stories in the Old Testament book of Judges. Other than Genesis, these two books give us more stories than any other of the Old Testament books. The two books cover about a century and a half of history. These are dark days when everyone in the nation of Israel was doing what was right in their own eyes. The story begins approximately 3,000 years ago in an obscure village in the hills country of Ephraim, or in the middle of the 1100s BC. We can zoom in to 1 Samuel 1, a bit like Google Earth does, and we can zoom right down to a place called Ramah, or Ramathaim-zophim in verse one. We’re not too sure where that is. It could be on the west coast near Tel Aviv, or it could be just a few miles north of Jerusalem. This is the story of how Samuel, one of the main characters of this part of the Bible, came to be.
A Man with Two Wives
We see “a certain man” who had two wives and our attention is brought immediately to a humble woman who is unable to have children. Now Hannah’s inability to have children forms the cradle of the story. Her name is “Hannah” which means, “favored one.” The family has no social standing and they were little known in their day. Because his first wife “Hannah” was unable to have children, it’s likely that “Elkanah” (El kan ah) married a second wife. The Bible says it so simply in the beginning of verse two: “He had two wives” (1 Samuel 1:2).
Although in Old Testament times God tolerated polygamy, the Bible never portrays it in a good light. God’s original plan is for one man and one woman to be committed in marriage for life. One man and one woman for one life – that’s marriage. Any violation of that plan, whether several wives at the same time or a succession of wives (or husbands) due to divorce, creates problems. A wise man once said, “Better to live with two tigers than to live with two wives.”
Marriage, the Piece of Paper
Marriage has fallen on hard times in our day. Indeed, one of the most common things said today of marriage is this: “Why do we need a piece of paper in order to love one another?” Marriage, it is thought, doesn’t need a paper from the government to say I love you. But think of the marriage ceremony for just a moment. Today, thousands of dollars are spent to celebrate the love where two people say, “I love you” to one another. Yet, marriage is more than the feeling of romantic love. Yes, marriage in the Bible is a place of deep emotion. But marriage is more, not less, than deep emotion. If marriage were only romantic feelings for one another, then we wouldn’t come together to celebrate the wedding. No one of us is going to throw a big celebration for when a man feels romantic feelings for a woman. A rush of romantic feelings happens in cheap hotels and in Las Vegas all the time. No one throws an expensive wedding shower, reception, and dinner to celebrate a rush of emotions. Marriage in the Bible is more than deep emotions. To say, “I don’t need a piece of paper to love you” is to say, “My love for you has not reached the marriage level.” For Mothers to flourish, there needs to be an awakening in the marriage.
Hannah
“Hannah” sadness was all the more compounded when her husband’s second wife was able to produce numerous children for him. Her inability to have children is compounded with the rivalry of “the other women.” “And her rival used to provoke her grievously to irritate her, because the Lord had closed her womb.” (1 Samuel 1:6) To complicate matters, Elkanah favored the wife without children over the wife who had all the children. This led to jealousy and rivalry between the two women. Did Elkanah have both wives under the same roof, or were there two homes where he went back and forth between them? No matter, you can imagine the conversation with Peninnah’s children. One of the children says to Peninnah, “Mommy, why does Auntie Hannah not have any children?” Peninnah says, “I don’t know. Why don’t you ask her? But, you know, I think it’s because God has cursed her.”
Certainly, Hannah would have to wonder, “Does God care?” This is a story about a God who makes something out of nothing, life out of death. God works in a great reversal. God likes to work in places where you wouldn’t think He is working. God likes to work in surprising ways in order for Him to get all the glory. When things look hopeless, you are in God’s fairway. You are in God’s main street. Hopelessness is exactly where God likes to work.
ELI
The story also introduces us to a priest at Shiloh, named Eli, and his two wicked sons, Hophni and Phinehas in verse three. As the book of 1 Samuel opens the people of Israel are worshipping in the Tabernacle while by the end of 2 Samuel they are preparing to build the Temple. Eli’s role is to lead the nation in worship but he is going to fail in a way that I want to underline with you. Eli is a well-meaning priest who had no clue on how to control his two sons. He sets the pattern as he is followed by Samuel, and to a large extent, David. Nearly every son in these two books fails to be faithful to God like their fathers. You can better understand the stories of these two books by observing an “X Pattern” throughout. When one leader, Saul, for example, is declining, another leader rises, King David. This happens throughout the stories of 1 and 2 Samuel.
Back to the barren mother, Hannah, for a moment. She prays in her hopeless situation: “She was deeply distressed and prayed to the Lord and wept bitterly” (1 Samuel 1:10). Things are so bad and prayer is so rare that the spiritually dull Eli, the priest, couldn’t identify when Hannah was praying. When the Bible says she “wept bitterly,” you should see Hannah in the worship center where her body convulses in tears.
Earlier this week, my wife and I watched Les Misérables. Les Misérables tells the story of Fantine, who is abandoned by her lover and is unable to take care of her daughter, Cosette. She is a tragic figure in nearly every way. Her story begins as an abandoned child in Victor Hugo’s novel written in 1862. She leaves Cosette in the hands of innkeepers who abuse the little girl. Fantine is an illiterate woman who works at a factory to send money to Cosette. The story is set around the historical period of the French Revolution. To meet the repeated money demands of the innkeepers, Fantine sells her two front teeth, her hair, and eventually her body. In wicked times, mothers are often forced to do unspeakable things to support their children.
Remember, the story of Hannah, whose life spans the time of the book of Judges. Hannah also lives in wicked times. Hannah is weeping in a way that brings attention to herself. Her grief is so great that she cannot express herself in a quiet, dignified way.
Instead, she weeps bitterly: “As she continued praying before the Lord, Eli observed her mouth. Hannah was speaking in her heart; only her lips moved, and her voice was not heard. Therefore Eli took her to be a drunken woman. And Eli said to her, “How long will you go on being drunk? Put your wine away from you.” (1 Samuel 1:12-14) When the priest cannot tell the difference between drunkenness and prayer, prayer is rare. Note earlier ladies, that Hannah had gone through some kind of depression for she refused to eat (1 Samuel 1:7). It’s in the worship center of her day that Hannah makes a faith-filled vow. God can have all the servants He wants or needs. Hannah’s story is recorded not to tell us how to cut deals with God. Instead, she is noteworthy because she cries out to God.
She makes the Nazarite vow where in verse eleven she says: “And she vowed a vow and said, ‘O Lord of hosts, if you will indeed look on the affliction of your servant and remember me and not forget your servant, but will give to your servant a son, then I will give him to the Lord all the days of his life, and no razor shall touch his head’” (1 Samuel 1:11).
She prays, “I have nothing to bargain with. I ask that you have pity on me. I ask that you show me mercy.” She asks, “Lord, give me a son, and I’ll give him back to You.” Before she leaves the worship center, the priest Eli tells her that her prayer is answered: “Then Eli answered, ‘Go in peace, and the God of Israel grant your petition that you have made to him.’ And she said, ‘Let your servant find favor in your eyes.’ Then the woman went her way and ate, and her face was no longer sad” (1 Samuel 1:17-18). Indeed, God answered her prayer.
Look at verse nineteen with me: “They rose early in the morning and worshiped before the Lord; then they went back to their house at Ramah. And Elkanah knew Hannah his wife, and the Lord remembered her. And in due time Hannah conceived and bore a son, and she called his name Samuel, for she said, “I have asked for him from the Lord.” (1 Samuel 1:19-20)
She took him to Eli to fulfill her vow and Eli raised the boy: “So the woman remained and nursed her son until she weaned him. And when she had weaned him, she took him up with her, along with a three-year-old bull, an ephah of flour, and a skin of wine, and she brought him to the house of the Lord at Shiloh. And the child was young. Then they slaughtered the bull, and they brought the child to Eli. And she said, “Oh, my lord! As you live, my lord, I am the woman who was standing here in your presence, praying to the Lord. For this child I prayed, and the Lord has granted me my petition that I made to him. Therefore I have lent him to the Lord. As long as he lives, he is lent to the Lord.' And he worshiped the Lord there” (1 Samuel 1:23-28).
It’s four years later (maybe three) when the little boy is weaned. She goes to Shiloh. She fulfills her vow. Now I can understand if some of you are saying tonight…because I’m saying it myself…I can understand if some of you are saying “How can a mother do that?” How can a mother take a four-year-old boy to Shiloh with Eli, Hophni, and Phinehas – not the best people in the world – and leave him there for the rest of his life? How do you do that? The answer in part of course is that she’s fulfilling a vow. We find that difficult to understand in the twenty-first century. Vows were meant to be kept, and Hannah knew that. Her son Samuel replaced the two wicked sons of Eli, Hophni, and Phinehas. This “adopted son” became the hope for the nation.
God began his surprising work in an obscure, unknown mother from the hill country. Hannah went to the worship center and her worship was costly for she gave a bull (a costly gift for her family) and her son. This sad woman knows that God is worth relying on. God is the one you want to put your hope in. God works in a great reversal. God likes to work in places where you wouldn’t think He is working. God likes to work in surprising ways in order for Him to get all the glory.
When things look hopeless, you are in God’s fairway. You are in God’s main street. This is not the last surprising birth that God uses to change the earth. God worked through another obscure couple in the world. Each time we celebrate Christmas, we celebrate God’s surprising work of hope.
Here Jesus is the better Samuel. Jesus came to die for your sin. He came to bring hope to your hopeless situation.
